Understanding residents’ desired approaches to manage forest access roads: a case from northeastern Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Managing roads and access on publicly owned forested lands should include assessments of the public’s views of desirability for different approaches. To assess the public’s views, we explored northeastern Ontario residents’ desirability ratings towards approaches that remove, deactivate, or close forest access roads. From a social survey, respondents, on average, rated every restrictive approach as undesirable. From a principal components and cluster analysis, we identified four groups of respondents (open roads, road deactivation, road closure, and sign-based road closure supporters) that differed in their desirability ratings for the approaches. Comparisons of group members by the types and intensity of outdoor recreation use, attitudes towards roads and management, environmental value orientations, and sociodemographic characteristics revealed expected and important differences. On the one hand, almost one half of respondents had high levels of undesirability ratings towards any restrictive approach, suggesting that attempts to restrict road access might be met with stiff opposition. On the other hand, the presence of groups that support road deactivation, sign-based road closures, and general road closures suggests that many other residents might be willing to accept some access restrictions on roads. Consequently, managers must be aware of the heterogeneity in views about access when planning roads and access.